"The dappled apple waddled like addled and straddled a dappled saddle."-Dick Grayson in dialog so awe-inspiring we would do you a disservice if we gave it context. From Star-Spangled Comics #80 (1948)

November 29, 2004

Mutant Mayhem Clix

Tonight, Mrs. Mag and I met with a pleasant gentleman from one of the local cemeteries to discuss our burial arrangements. Let me tell you, friends, who knew that picking a place to be buried had so many options? Did we want a mausoleum spot (which looks like nothing so much as a condominium for dead folks) or a grave site? Single depth or double depth? Cremation or entombment? What happens if you move--can you return it or sell it (yes to both)? What kinds of monuments are allowed? And so on and so on. It's a very strange feeling planning for your final rest. Ugh. I just wanted to share my skeeved out feelings with you all. But onto better things...

I admit that shiny new things make me spend money better used elsewhere (like on a burial plot). Take for example, Wizkids' Mutant Mayhem Heroclix boosters. Without looking too carefully, these are the figures I found interesting: Loki, Giant Man, Cloak & Dagger, and Wonder Man. And the A-1 figure of the set: M.O.D.O.K. That's it. That's a grand total of six figures out of a set of over fifty (and I didn't count, but I think there are about 15 unique figures in the set; that seems a bit high to me). That's not much reason to buy a set, is it? Besides, do we need another Wolverine figure? Or Spider-Man? Or a Hulk? Where's Gilgamesh? Or Stilt Man? Or a limited edition Mike Murdock? Hmm?

Mutant Mayhem introduces a number of new features to the basic game play: bystander tokens, feats, battle conditions, giant figures, and limited edition (LE) figures. Bystander tokens aren't really new: several of the map sets had them; bystanders are basically low-powered figures (actually, more like a base with out a figure): they generally represent non-powered folks like Mary Jane, Aunt May, or Franklin Richards.

Feats are cards that enable special actions, such as automatic regeneration or an increase of a particular ability score. Samples of feats and bystanders are available here.

Battle Conditions change the basic board rules in some way (like making it dark out, so that characters' ranges are limited).

There's only one Giant Figure in the game so far: Giant Man, of course. He's big, he's bad, and he's a load of rules exceptions.

Finally, the set adds a new class of unique figures, the limited edition figures. These are the same figures as the ones given away at tournaments, except they are marked by a gold ring and gold lettering on the base, instead of just a gold ring.

Vertigo (R): Once I rediscovered who she was, I began to realize that my initial impressions of the character selection in this set was probably right: from a character perspective, I really didn't need this. Nevertheless, I now have forty-five point, four click zero damage dealing character with Incapacitate throughout the dial, two clicks of Super Senses, and a click of Perplex. She also has a range of six, with two attacks allowed, a starting speed of six, an initial attack value of nine, and a defense of fourteen. The nine attack makes her moderately valuable; Incapacitate can be a truly useful (and annoying!) power if used correctly.

Wolverine (R): you can't have too many Wolverines, I suppose. Never much of an X-fan since Uncanny X-Men #150 or so, (why buy something called Mutant Mayhem then?), I don't recognize this incarnation, although I think it was the Jim Lee one. It's during Wolverine's non-adamantium, non-healing power phase. For forty-nine points, you get: a click each of Stealth and Charge, five clicks of Blades/Claws/Fangs (a Treadmill favorite power), a click of Toughness, and five clicks of Battle Fury. Wolvie's speed starts at eight, his attack at ten, his defense at fifteen, and his damage at three. He's also part of the X-Men team. Not bad, but not really necessary with all the other Wolverine figures, in my opinion; on the other hand, he is really popular, so it's an understandable decision.

Dagger (V): I have no rational reason for liking Cloak & Dagger, other than they were popular around the time I got back into comics; their first appearance was in Spectacular Spider-Man #64 (March 1982). Dagger's a light-weight in the health click department: she only has five clicks of life in her veteran configuration--an enraged Hulk could smash her real good. But she does have four clicks of Super Senses to help compensate for this weakness, and her initial sixteen defense isn't too bad. Her attack values start at nine, and she has two clicks of Psychic Blast and three of Incapacitate on this track; this is a nice complement to her three damage factor. She has a click of Running Shot at the start of the dial (and an eight speed) and a click of Support at the end of her dial. Dagger's range is a bit short at six squares, but she does have the opportunity to hit three targets. Dagger's part of the Spider-Man team, too. Not bad for sixty-nine points.

U-Men (R): oops, another X-Men related unrecognizable figure. Bless Google, which lead me to this description. And this one. And this one, too. This generic mutant wannabe is exactly that: generic. The two clicks of Toughness make him useful for tying up figures with a low damage value. And why isn't one of these guys a U-Man?

Gwen Stacy (Bystander): three points gets you a six move, six attack, thirteen defense, and a zero damage. The cold-hearted player could use her to block his opponent's attacks or to lock a figure in close combat for a turn.

Well, that's not the worst set of figures I've ever bought, but I'm convinced I should look for the individual figures that interest me, rather than buying too many boosters.

Alter Ego 31 (2003)

Yes Treadmillers, time for another Alter Ego plug. What's that? What do we mean by another? Well, look here, here, and here then.

I have a stack of unread issues of this lengthy (this one had 98 pages of articles) fanzine. The day I finish the last unread Alter Ego from the pile will be a tragic one, because I like the idea of always having an unread Alter Ego sitting around when the whim to read one strikes.

Alter Ego 31, cover dated December 2003, is far from the best issue of this fanzine I’ve read, but it had its moments. As usual, the magazine is split into two themes.

The first focuses on Dick Ayers’ Golden and Silver Age careers. Ayers is not a big name and much of his work I’m familiar with was inking rather than penciling, but he was around for a lot of comics history, comes across as a good guy and had plenty of interesting anecdotes – the interview was 28 pages and is followed by a Dick Ayers checklist

The second theme is pretty loose. Half of it focuses on the Christmas holiday and the other half consists of unrelated articles including a part in a lengthy analysis of whether the pre-hero Marvel stories cited by Overstreet as being “prototypes” of later Marvel characters really were prototypes. Only in Alter Ego would this question be raised let alone explored for about 50 pages over several issues. By the way, has anyone told Neilalien that 2 pages of the article focus on purported Dr. Strange prototypes?

The holiday themed part of the issue has some real treasures. Roy Thomas publishes 8 pages of Christmas Cards sent to him by comics pros over the years. Stuff you won’t see anywhere else. Unless you were on Shelly Moldoff’s, Nick Cardy’s or Jack Burnley’s (to name a few) mailing list.

And so, another comics’ history lesson is imparted courtesy of the human being who probably cares most about documenting it – Roy Thomas.

November 27, 2004

Black Canary 1 (1991)

After working my way through indexing the Birds of Prey, it’s time to turn to a fresh new title and character. And what’s next in the DC title alphabet? Um….Black Canary.

Black Canary had a four issue mini-series from 11/91 to 4/92. How this wound up in my collection I’m not certain since trips to the comic shop in the early 90’s were infrequent in these parts.

I only have issue 1 and rereading it I see why I didn't track down the remaining issues. This is an unremarkable comic. Written by Sarah Byam and drawn by Trevor VonEeden and Dick Giordano, the kick-off to the mini-series had no spark. I’m not familiar with Byam at all, but I was surprised how lifeless a comic with Trevor VonEeden art was. I can’t think of another example of a comic he has drawn I where I didn’t enjoy the art. For an example of my favorite VonEeden effort, check out the Thriller website courtesy of the Johnny Bacardi show. VonEeden's Green Arrow mini-series was also a highlight, but you'll have to wait until I get to "G" in my indexing for more detail than that.

The story had a Black Canary plagued by money troubles squabble with an oversexed, work phobic Green Arrow so that she could go off on a solo adventure where she immediately encounters a flirt-partner, a radio talk show DJ who has been giving local drug dealers trouble. I think Byam intended him to be the character of interest intended to draw the reader in for the first issue – he’s a DJ/vigilante/minority/love interest – but the attempt fell short.

The 2-page letters section contained no letters, but had an interesting editorial by Mike Gold on the history of solo female characters in super-hero comics. However, the problem in this particular case wasn’t that the title character was female. The problem was that the story was too generic. Nothing about this issue screams out that Byam and VonEeden have a game plan to convince readers that Black Canary is special enough to justify her own series or that this comic has a story that promises dramatic thrills.

Ten months after this mini ended, Black Canary would get her own series which lasted for a year in 1993 (I have no issues of that series). After that, of course, she landed a co-starring role in Birds of Prey, which she holds today in addition to occasional appearances in JLA and JSA (mostly the latter).

For a couple of interesting overviews elsewhere of the comics career of Black Canary, look here and here.

November 26, 2004

JSA 67 (2005)

JSA 67 is an Identity Crisis cross-over and a between storylines breather issue. Which, if you have to have an event cross-over is the best type of story to have I suppose.

Geoff Johns wrote it with pencils by Dave Gibbons and inks by James Hodgkins.

As he has done so well here in my current favorite series, Johns continues to juggle a tremendously large cast of characters, giving each one space to develop character and some background drama for the time it becomes his or her time to step into the spotlight.

The main event, the autopsy of Sue Dibny, was a dramatic dud. Having read Identity Crisis 6 first, I knew what the big payoff was and you don’t get it here anyway.

But there are a couple of interesting sequences. The JSA is tracking down some Flash rogues to see what they know about Sue Dibny’s murder. Wildcat, Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E. corner Mirror Master. And in their own book, Mirror Master leaves them with egg on their face and gets away.

Respect for Flash rogues is always welcome in my book. If they were smart enough to tangle with Barry Allen, they’re capable of eluding the grasp of the JSA. Sure, this has nothing to do with the JSA, but JSA is a book for fans of the DC Universe playground and Johns shows he’s aware of it here.

There’s also a nice sequence between Superman and Power Girl. A large part of the appeal of the original Power Girl was her relationship to the Superman of Earth-2 as her cousin, so I’m all for an attempt to create a mentor-like relationship between the current versions of the characters. Johns also uses the sequence to explore the secret identity concept. Discussing why she abandoned her secret identity, Power Girl asks Superman:

I thought that part of my life was useless. Trying to be normal. Trying to develop relationships with people you can’t ever really know. People you can’t be honest with. What’s the point right?

Supes has no answer to this, but you can feel the question eat at him (he’s probably reliving every issue of Lois Lane in his head).

Power Girl is a tough character to get right. See any issue of Justice League Europe she’s in to see how to get her wrong. And Johns has had his missteps with her in this series. But she has the potential to be among the most interesting members of the current cast.

November 25, 2004

Happy Thanksgiving

November 24, 2004

The Hardy Boys (2005)

Scott Lobdell, writer. Lea Hernandez, artist. Part 1 of 3. Published by Papercutz.

Fred Hembeck's comments (look for the 11/19/2004 entry; how 'bout some permalinks, Fred?) about the art are far superior to anything I have to offer. His comments about the property appealing to readers beyond the direct market are well taken--a spiffy trade paperback version should catch the eye of some new comics reader.

When it comes to the Hardy Boys series, I'm the anti-Fred. The Secret Panel (#25 in the series, by the way) was the first "real" book I ever read. My folks gave it to me as a Christmas gift when I was in third grade; I remember reading it in the car on the three and a half hour drive to my grandmother's house. From that point forward, I was hooked. I'd read most of one before I fell asleep and then finish it in the morning. Then I'd start another and try to read as much as I could in school. I still think about the books fondly whenever I spy one in a bookstore, or when I browse the stacks at a book sale (the local one, in my youth, supplied tons of Hardy Boys books and old comics). It was a sad moment in my life when my son expressed absolutely no interest in the series.

The Hardy Boys comic captures a bit of the excitement I felt as a beginning reader. The book contains most of the elements in any of the old story: Frank and Joe are solving some mystery; Callie and Iola are there (although I recall Iola being the blond and Callie the brunette, but that was a long, long time ago); and Chet stumbles into trouble.

The art looks clean and captures the spirit of the Hardy boys in a modern setting (at least to this out of touch parent) and references current topics and issues. This is probably a change for the better. Even in the seventies, the Hardy Boys seemed a bit dated; this wasn't a problem for me as a budding Golden Age comics fan, but it's easy to see how this might not appeal to the Ninetendo generation.

My only gripe is that Aunt Gertrude isn't in the story; she's seemingly replaced by the brothers' mother, who, if memory serves, was never mentioned in the first fifty or so stories. But I'm relying on my recollection of books I read over thirty years ago.

And just to complain some more, did I mention that I'm trying to de-spyware my son's PC while I'm writing this? Can I tell you how little common sense college freshman have concerning the security of their PC's? I shudder to think of the implications with respect to non-platonic relationships.

Thank You O Mighty Internet

Here’s one I don’t do a lot – largely because plenty of other people do it better – but today I’m going to plug a few links that I think are essential viewing.

Over the past week, Mark Evanier, at his always worth reading POVOnline site, has put up entries linking to video and audio footage of interviews with Jack Kirby and Harry Lampert (original artist on the Golden Age Flash). Thank you Mark. Yes, they are a bit lengthy to watch, but when I had the chance to watch Jack Kirby and hear what he sounded like, it was like getting a chance to see Shakespeare or Jesus standing around talking. Now I know what the King sounds like! Thank you internet!!!

Perhaps those of you who had the chance to run into Jack Kirby at a convention sometime or have seen footage elsewhere are not as impressed as I am. Perhaps, as you read this, you’re mocking me for being too easily wowed. Well, you’re not going to bother me. I know what the King sounds like now!

November 23, 2004

Superman/Batman #14 (2005)

Fanboy alert is in effect. In other words, I'm the target audience for this book.

I don't regularly read any Batman or Superman books. I know that's some sort of comic-collecting code violation, but what can you do? I picked this up solely on the recommendation of my comic shop's DC expert, who thought I might like the last-page. He was right. The appearance of "I'm not gonna tell you who it is" Man was a good surprise after the appearance of the "Gee, I wished I remembered they even existed" League a few pages earlier.

The quick synopsis: the "Gee, I wished I remembered they even existed" League tampers with the origins of Batman and Superman so that they become the most powerful men on the planet. The group also prevents others (specifically, the JLA) from becoming heroes. This doesn't mean that there aren't any capes except for the World's Finest duo, but those rogue heroes face a tough challenge from Superman and Batman. Green Arrow makes a good, but shocking appearance, for example.

The basic plot is certainly something long-time fans will recognize from the various Elseworlds or What-If titles (no, I don't have a specific example in mind). The surprises, however, make the story better than average. That last sentence might be a truism; I'm too tired to think about it. Forgive me if it is. Of course, with only one issue of the five chapter arc published, it's too early to claim that the plot's derivative. So given the fanboy treats Loeb has stuffed in the story, along with the solid art, I'm willing to go along for the ride.

Airboy 1-12 (1986)

For a change of pace from my DC indexing, I'm going to the next entry in the Third Party boxes indexing. Which is a dull way of introducing the interesting Airboy 1-12 from Eclipse Comics in 1986.

Airboy was unusual in that it began life on a bi-weekly schedule with a short page count (13 pages of story) and for the bargain price of fifty cents. By issue 9, the price had gone up to $1.25 with extra pages in the form of a Skywolf back-up. Airboy lasted for 50 issues, through October 1989, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. In Treadmill tradition, we’ll focus on one year at a time.

Airboy was Eclipse’s revival of characters originally published by Hillman Publications during World War II and for a few years thereafter. These stories were all written by Chuck Dixon. Airboy 1 and 2 had art by Tim Truman and Tom Yeates, with Stan Woch taking over the art with issue 3. Truman remained to do some covers, with occasional guest artists, such as the hubba-hubba cover of Valkyrie by Dave Stevens somewhere on the right.

Airboy 1 kicked off with a typical for the series action-packed tale introducing the Airboy of this series, the son of the original. The son’s coming of age occurs when his father is murdered and the new Airboy, learning for the first time who his father was, throws himself into the fray to avenge his dad.

There’s not much point recounting the plots of the stories. They weren’t the attraction. The attraction was two-fold. First, was the feel of an old-time serial adventure with continual cliffhangers. Writer Chuck Dixon did a fantastic job taking advantage of the bi-weekly format he had to work with and kept the pace of the stories at just the right level of energy. It was a comic with a heavy body count, which is not generally my cup of tea, but the stories were more focused on the fantasy of the thrills than the reality of the deaths.

In addition to the “hook you in” adventure, Dixon didn’t let a fascinating cast of characters from Hillman go to waste. As allies, Skyboy had Skywolf, the hard-edged veteran, Hirota, the first Japanese pilot the original Airboy ever shot down, Birdie the plane, Swamp Thing’s great-granddaddy the Heap and, of course, the love interest, Valkyrie, who had been, as so many comics characters were, in suspended animation. Reading this again 18 years later, I remain impressed at how Dixon brought a large and interesting cast out of obscurity and made each one an interesting character that brought me back every two weeks to see what would happen to them.

Airboy also had one other element that made it stand out from the crowd. Dixon’s decision to make Valkyrie the same Valkyrie from the original series but at the age of her ex-lover’s son resulted in some of the best Oedipal issues to hit a traditional comic as Valkyrie immediately developed the hots for Davy Jr., and Davy Jr. had conflicting feelings of “hubba-hubba” and “ewwwww…..that was daddy’s girlfriend”. Through the first 12 issues, this conflict continued to boil nicely with no easy resolution in sight.

Starting with Airboy 9, a ten page back-up featuring Skywolf and many other Hillman characters (like the brilliantly named “Flying Fool”) set in 1948 was added to the book, with Dixon handling the writing. The series was much like Airboy in that it was fast-paced action, but with a cast of interesting characters.

Eclipse published a lot of titles I enjoyed during its' life (DNAgents, Crossfire and Mr. Monster spring immediately to mind). They also had some interesting editorials and ads. This one, found on the back of Airboy issues 2 and 3 may have been the most interesting of all. I’m not about to revive a long-ago squabble that I don’t know nearly enough about to take sides, but I'm noting it here because in a pre-internet time, this one page commentary spoke loudly to this ordinary comics fan.

Airboy had another great feature. An always entertaining letters page, due in large part to a huge controversy arising out of this panel showing an autographed Reagan/Bush poster in the bad guy’s office. Reader and editorial response to this was worth the 50 cents by itself. Controversy raged for the rest of the year as irate readers wrote that because of that panel they had purchased their last Eclipse comic, that Dixon was guilty of giving aid and comfort to our eternal enemies, the commies, that Dixon shouldn’t “worry overmuch about liberal hang-ups on the right or wrong of U.S. foreign policy” (the latter penned by a Massachusetts man with French first and last names - ah, those innocent days before Freedom Fries) and that Eclipse had the corporate ethics of Union Carbide (a charge which ticked off Dixon). And bless Eclipse, everybody got a chance to respond to reader complaints – Dixon, Truman, Yeates and, of course, Editor-in-Chief, Cat Yronwode, with responses all over the board. Fascinating reading! Oh how I miss letters’ pages! And I’m still waiting for follow-through on one reader’s call for an Airboy-Blackhawk team-up. There were also some informative text pieces on the characters who Eclipse realized most readers (like me) were wholly unfamiliar with. Compare that to today, where the only way to learn background information about a series is to have a benevolent reader leave a comment!

Finally, given Mike Sterling’s fanaticism about Swamp Thing ("I'm chalk!") and dislike of Elfquest, I'm certain that reading this comic (an ad from Airboy 11) would cause his head to explode. Mike better count on his fellow ACAPCWOVCCAOE members to keep this comic away from his eyes.

November 21, 2004

Birds of Prey 61-75 (2004)

Today completes the Birds of Prey indexing. Before discussing the stories, here’s the obligatory title wrap-up bookkeeping. I have issues 1, 14, 35, 41-42, 47, 56-75 of the ongoing series, along with most, but not all, of the minis and one-shots before the ongoing series was launched. The grand total is 27 issues, or 35.5% of the ongoing title’s output, and 32, or 37.6% of all Birds of Prey titles. In the H collection, the numbers come in below Batman & The Outsiders (40 issues) and ahead of Atom (all 4 Atom series) with 28.

Birds of Prey had a busy publishing schedule in 2004 with a bi-weekly schedule for a while resulting in 15 issues, from 61 to 75. 75 issues and still going strong. Which is surprising as heck for a title featuring two female second-banana heroines.

Gail Simone remains the writer for the series and continues to do a solid job. Ed Benes handled the art on most issues, continuing his clear, crisp style that melds well with Simone’s narrative. This title isn’t a must read, but is an enjoyable one.

It’s a modern series, so one thing the reader has to accept is that the majority of stories are Trade Paperback Collection length. I’m okay with that when the writer can avoid making me suspect that scenes are there only for padding. Simone generally pulls that off. So, there’s nothing major in this year’s run to turn the big whine button on, although if you keep reading you will encounter a fanboy whine about treatment of some sentimental favorite second bananas.

Birds of Prey 61 finished a two-parter introducing the menace of Senator Pullman and tying up some loose ends from the Savant story. A rehabbing Black Canary, ticked at being captured, starts aggressively training with many of the DC Universe’s best fighters, a subplot that carries through the remainder of the year, paying off in a rematch with Savant at year end. Huntress continues to get more involved with the Birds of Prey as she impersonates the injured Black Canary for the issue. And Barbara Gordon meets a worldly-wise waitress with a cute brother who is the cook and has the hots for Babs. Oh yeah. The waitress has a precocious kid. When introduced, it appeared these characters would get more play, but they appear to have been abandoned. Not a big loss.

Birds of Prey 62-67 was a good six-part story that featured two seemingly separate plots that tied together nicely. Black Canary and Oracle spent most of the story apart and out of touch, with Black Canary, Lady Shiva and Cheshire starting out in Hong Kong working on the mystery of who murdered Canary and Shiva’s Sensei. Cheshire was along for the ride as a suspect/”I was framed” member of the cast. Simone mixed in the action and some fun to follow personal interaction between the three quite well. Simone’s handle on the Black Canary character continues to impress as Simone makes Dinah formidable without “darkening” her personality. Back in the U.S., Senator Pullman and Savant rounded up a dozen or so Gotham women considered as potentially being Oracle, including Barbara Gordon. In contrast to the light-hearted banter/martial arts action of the Black Canary portion of the story, the Oracle portion read as a suspense-packed thriller. Huntress worked her way into the story by discovering that Babs was missing and helping to rescue her and has now become a regular cast member. The climax had plenty of surprises and Simone played fair in springing them. An enjoyable story (except for the gratuitous and thankfully minor appearances of Katana and #$%&@^# Gypsy at the end – who left the door to comic book limbo open?).

As I noted last time, Simone also has a knack for the nice touch/character capturing dialog that takes advantage of the playground of being in the DC universe. This arc reveals that Cheshire’s poison room is set-up according to Feng Shu, let’s us hear Black Canary inform us she’s “waist deep in father figures” and gives Wildcat’s training methods a key moment in the sun.

Of interest to golden age fans is Birds of Prey 66 which was a flashback to the original Black Canary with an appearance by one of the finest male sidekicks to a female super hero ever, Larry Lance. Sure, the competition doesn’t amount to much more than Steve Trevor, but still, check out the Black Canary Archives – that Larry Lance had style.

Birds of Prey 68 is a between multi-part story breather issue. I normally like these slow the pace down type stories, but this one sagged a bit, particularly in the lengthy and not very interesting sequence where Huntress dates a parking lot attendant who traded information for a date (it sounds more interesting than it is).

Birds of Prey 69-72 is a four-part epic with a surprise menace (who gets revealed here, so SPOILER ALERT) and a story that, with minor flaws, was another entertaining read. The known menace is a cult, with Huntress getting her turn in the spotlight as she attempts to infiltrate. The new Huntress is a character that has grown on me (I have a soft spot for the original, Earth-2, Huntress and accordingly, a grudge for her Crisis-imposed replacement) and Simone does a good job presenting Huntress as a harder vigilante and with a much greater self-imposed need to prove herself than her partners. Simone’s Huntress doesn’t recklessly kill bad guys, but she won’t hesitate to do so if she deems it necessary. Dramatically, this makes Huntress an interesting third wheel to play off the nobler Oracle and Black Canary.

Showing, she’s no miracle worker, Simone once again drags out another heroine tainted with the stench of Detroit JLA, but fails to make her interesting. This time it was Vixen, a consistently bland member of DC’s second-string heroines. Vixen’s animal powers were pivotal to the plot, but her character was not. Simone also threw in a bunch of second string characters who haven’t been around in a bit as minor, mind controlled, players in the story – Geo-Force, Agent Liberty, Claw, Flamebird, Air Wave, Bumblebee, Plasmus, Plastique . How these characters got into the story is never explained and why Simone felt so many were necessary is a mystery. Only Geo-Force, as the most powerful, got more than a few panels. Employing 2 or 3 of these characters would have been just as effective and avoided the feeling that Simone was cramming too much in. I enjoyed seeing Flamebird though and hope that her appearance means she’s a character Simone has an interest in bringing back. I know old fave Bette Kane wasn’t ever Bat-Girl in the new continuity, but I wouldn’t mind Flamebird getting a featured part in this series and seeing her interact with Barbara (Batgirl) Gordon and Cassandra (Batgirl) Cain. You know Roy Thomas would have been all over a story teaming those three up by now. I also feel cheated at Air Wave and Bumblebee (a fourth-stringer from Bob Rozakis’ Teen Titans run which Scott talked about recently) showing up, but getting no dialog or action. Hey Simone – you owe me a better appearance from these two characters that I have no rational reason to like, but do!

Best DC Universe touch Simone adds in this one? Vixen comments on how she got the impression from Batman that Huntress was a lot harder inside. Huntress responds “Nobody should have to live by what Batman thinks of them.” Lines like this are what Simone has done to help sway this old Helena Wayne fan into accepting the new Huntress.

Black Canary mostly sat on the sidelines in this one, dealing with the problems Oracle faced with the behind the scenes foe, SPOILER ALERT – Brainiac, who even though defeated, appears to be in for the long term with a subplot. Unbeknown to her pals, Babs walked away from the story with an odd bit of wiring patched onto her skin.

Birds of Prey 74 was a one-shot story. It started with some undercover fun:

And if you can look at this panel without running to your storage box to reread the Duela Dent Batman Family issues, you're made of stronger stuff than I. But the true focus was the compelling sub-plot involving Oracle’s attempts to rehabilitate Savant played off against Black Canary’s grudge against Savant for the ambush and mistreatment of her when they first met. The story represents a high point for Black Canary, who Simone reminds us entered the series angry, broke, directionless and lost. Black Canary gets her esteem-building revenge against Savant, but not before Simone ensures we’ll feel sympathy for Savant, who is one of my favorite new characters. Still, Black Canary ends the year as the only Birds of Prey character who has found some contentment and a healthy dose of self-confidence. There is a nice scene in here contrasting Black Canary’s empathy with Huntress’ anger when Black Canary has to stop Huntress from taunting defeated bad guys.

The year ends with Birds of Prey 75, Exhibit 5,436 in the case against large-scale multi-title cross-overs. The story kicked off wordlessly showing a burning building that a few pages later we learn was the Clock Tower. It was destroyed in the “War Games” storyline that crossed-over through the Batman titles (none of which I currently buy). It took me until page 4 before I realized I was being shown that the Clock Tower home of Oracle had been destroyed in another title. We have to learn how and why in an expository flashback, thereby robbing Birds of Prey of any dramatic impact this major change in the series’ premise has. Sigh. At least Birds of Prey is apparently being taken out of the Batman Family of titles. Which does little to remove the reader’s feeling at being cheated this issue. Fortunately, after getting that bit of business out of the way, Simone sets up some good future plotlines:

Lady Blackhawk is inexplicably propelled into modern time via Zero Hour (heck – who needs an explanation – it’s Lady Blackhawk!) and joins the Birds of Prey as pilot of the plane their now mobile operation is using. First off, go here and scroll down to 10/2/04 for the most revealing article you’ll ever find on just who Lady Blackhawk is. I’m so happy that a Blackhawk is now running around the DC Universe in her prime, that I’m perfectly willing to overlook the too easy plot contrivance of Zero Hour to bring her there;

With the destruction of the Clock Tower, Barbara Gordon is moving operations out of Gotham. “I want to forget and I’m no damn good at forgetting” the woman with a photographic memory laments. Good stuff. Can she find happiness away from home? Is Brainiac’s imprint at work here? How will Black Canary and Huntress handle the lack of a home? What effect will the loss of stability for the formerly stable heart and genius of the team have in the upcoming stories? What effect will this have on Savant, who has been charged with bringing peace to a small neighborhood of Gotham in a mission of redemption that no one really believes will work? All good groundwork for stories in 2005;

The first mission will be to track down 3 vigilantes who kill as Oracle wants to clean house to protect the integrity of super-heroes. Hopefully this will lead to a drama-packed storyline comparing the 3 homicidal vigilantes with Huntress’ methods.

And that ends the Birds of Prey discussion for now. Next up – more “B” indexing – we have a long way to go before getting to “C”.

Radio Heroes

I am shocked, shocked, to find Radio Heroes, Pete Milan's unique look at the classic Power Records audio dramas.

I don't know if it's possible to explain why someone would create a Metamorpho Dance Remix, nor am I sure it's wise to even ask such a question, but I do know that it's funny. And that's enough for me.

November 20, 2004

Debbi's Dates (1970)

With all the hullabaloo over Avengers: Disassembled and the greatest comics of all time (hey, there's no Atom reference in there), I thought it a good time for a change of pace. So, here's today's topic, Debbi's Dates #9, a DC beauty from 1970:

Debbi's Dates, a spin-off of A Date With Debbi, ran from April 1969 through December of 1970. Those responsible for it are not identified in the book nor in the Comic Book Price Guide (33rd edition). Do I have one of the interesting issues of the series, like issue six, a Superman appearance, or issue four, in which Neil Adams did a bit of art? (Those look to be the only two interesting issues.) Nope, I just have a plain old issue that seems to be an Archie knock-off, as all of them were, I'm sure. And the plots of the three short stories are too dull to bother poking fun at them. (Nor do I want to waste any more of my precious life re-reading them.) But not all is lost: there are a few pages that sum up the Swinging 70s, DC style:

And I want to know who decided that not having a single ad aimed at teen-age girls in this book was a good idea? There's an ad for the ever popular army men games (two full pages, no less); one for a set of mini-baseball caps; and one for a Hot Wheels factory (which I had, by the way). Did anyone think of marketing at all?

November 18, 2004

The Elite 1,600 Comics Of All Time Courtesy of Comics Buyer's Guide 1600 (2005)

Hot on the heels of my wishy-washy review of the new Comics Buyer’s Guide format comes the latest issue with a special feature that caught my interest so much I decided to subject it to closer analysis on the Treadmill.

Specifically, issue 1,600 of the CBG had a feature entitled 1,600 comics you need to have. It’s worth reading. It’s also worth examining to see how many comics on CBG's list would make my elite box of 1,600 of the top comics. In other words, CBG’s feature is just dying for a back seat driver, so here goes my commentary on the selections, categorized as:

They got that right;

Good, but not top 1,600 material;

Never read it, but they probably got it right;

Never read it and I’m not willing to concede they got it right;

Huh? This wasn’t very good at all; and

There's something funny in that cheese up there in Wisconsin, but I'm not laughing!

You won’t be seeing H’s list of the top 1,600 comics. Why not? Simple. Critiquing somebody else’s list? Easy work. Doing the research to come up with a list I’m comfortable defending? Hard work.

They Got That Right
-Adventure 340-355 (16 issues, 1966-1967)
Absolutely. By issue 340, the series had grown its legs and was in its prime. These stories are fantastic.
-Age of Bronze 1-16 (16 issues, 1998-2003)
See here for the reasons why I agree with this choice.
-All-Star Comics 34-38 (5 issues, 1947)
The DC Archive collection taught me that the early JSA stories don’t stand the test of time. But the later ones, including these 5 sure do. See here for my earlier entries on these gems.
-Amazing Spider-Man 1-50 and Amazing Fantasy 15 (51 issues, 1962-67)
A time-tested classic run that gives me the warm fuzzies.
-Amazing Spider-Man 68-77 (10 issues, 1969)
The Stone Tablet Saga. Some great Stan Lee/John Romita tales.
-Animal Man 1-5 (5 issues, 1988)
Somewhere in Michigan, Dave Fiore (start on 2/9 for some excellent analysis of this series by its biggest admirer) just let rip with a primal scream that the whole Morrison run on this title wasn’t included. And he’s absolutely right. All of them make my elite box.
-Astro City Vol. 1 0-6, Vol. 2 1-22 (29 issues, 1995-2000)
I’ll concede that 29 issues of this series is a bit of overkill since it ran out of a lot of steam over time. Still, a good chunk of them belong on the list.
-Avengers 89-97 (9 issues, 1971-1972)
The Kree-Skrull war. This is good enough to make the cut, but I’d argue vigorously to include a lot more of Thomas’ Avengers stories on this list.
-Avengers 115-118 and Defenders 8-11 (8 issues, 1973)
Oh yeah. Steve Englehart’s Avengers vs. Defenders epic. This would make my box of the elite 100 comics. Almost all of Englehart’s run deserves to make the list.
-Avengers 167-168, 170-177 (10 issues, 1978)
This list is woefully short on Avengers stories and there's a lot omitted that are better than this. That said, I’ve no qualms about including this too.
-Batman 404-408 (5 issues, 1987)
My recent indexing of Batman led me to conclude that there have been a surprisingly small number of outstanding Batman stories. This (Frank Miller’s Year One) is one of them.
-Batman: The Dark Knight 1-4 (4 issues, 1986)
If only they were all so easy to categorize. Go here for more Treadmill talk.
-Camelot 3000 1-12 (12 issues, 1982-1985)
Overlooking how long it took to publish the darn thing, it was a great twist on the Arthurian legend and as far as I’m concerned, the best comics interpretation of all that Camelot stuff.
-Cerebus 1-50 (50 issues, 1977-1983)
It wasn’t long after this that Dave Sim lost me on this title, but the first 50 issues are worthy.
-Donald Duck Four Color Comics (25 non-consecutive issues from 1940-1952)
Okay. I’ll admit I have no idea if I’ve read the specific Carl Barks stories listed, but I’ve read enough Carl Barks’ Donald Duck stories to accept any 25 in the elite box.
-Fantastic Four 36-52, Annuals 2-3 (19 issues, 1961-66)
No argument this run belongs, but a strong argument could be made to extend it at either end. In fact, the absence of the first 35 issues of the FF is hard to accept.
-Flash 129-139 (11 issues, 1962-1963)
CBG admits that at 11 issues, it is giving the Silver Age Flash short shrift (see here for gushing about the Silver Age Flash). I’ll argue that the elite box needs more of this run, but I won’t quibble with the inclusion of at least these 11 issues.
-Flash 95-100 (6 issues, 1994-1995)
This story focused on Mark Waid’s wonderful Speed Force concept. Although not as classic as many others in this section, it is a strong story featuring one of my favorite characters (pick a Flash, any Flash. I like ‘em all).
-Green Lantern Vol. 2 76-87, 89 (13 issues, 1970-1972)
It’s sad that this is the only run of any Green Lantern series that is worthy of consideration for this list.
-JLA 1-4 (4 issues, 1997)
No doubt about it this time. The cut-off was way too early, missing a lot of the amazing things Morrison accomplished with this revival. The list needs to extend the run of the title.
-Justice League of America 9-22 (14 issues, 1962-1963)
I don’t disagree with the inclusion of these early issues by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky, but there was a great run in the early 1970’s after Fox finished. Those deserve to be on this list too.
-Kingdom Come 1-4 (4 issues, 1996)
Others may protest, but this series was brimming with the type of crazily imaginative ideas that comics are so good at.
-League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen 1-6 (6 issues, 1999-2000)
This makes the list on the basis of the brilliant concept. The fantastic Alan Moore story is just a bonus.
-Legion of Super-Heroes 290-294, Annual 3 (1982, 1984)
The Great Darkness Saga. Yes it is. Great. And a saga. But we’re focusing on the great part today.
-Little Lulu Four Color (10 non-consecutive issues 1945-1947)
John Stanley rules. Again, I have no idea if I’ve read all 10 of these, but every issue of John Stanley’s Little Lulu I’ve ever read qualifies as elite box material. Stanley was a one-of-a-kind master.
-Mad 1-23 (23 issues, 1952-1955)
Classic and stinkin’ funny.Marvels 1-4 (4 issues, 1994)
Four issues of an interesting perspective on classic Marvel comics.
-Megaton Man 1-10 (10 issues, 1984-1986)
I’m taking a risk here. I haven’t reread these since they first came out, but I remember it got a lot of laughs from me, so I’m going to go out on a limb that it stands the test of time.
-Miracleman 1-16 (1985-1988)
Another series I haven’t reread since it came out, but I vividly remember being sucked into to every issue of this masterpiece.
-New Teen Titans 39-44, Annual 3 (7 issues, 1984)
The Judas Contract story was the peak of this inconsistent, but often great title.
-Sandman 19-28 (10 issues, 1990-1991)
Why just 10 issues? The whole series deserves to be included. You know it. I know it. Glad we agree.
-Silver Surfer 1-7 (7 issues, 1968-1969)
This series ran out of gas quickly, but at its inception, Stan proved he was the man.
-The Spirit 1/4/48-12/25/49 (104 issues)
I’m cheating again. I have no idea how many of these I've read, but if you don't have Eisner's Spirit on your list, your credibility is suspect.
-Squadron Supreme 1-12 (12 issues, 1985-1986)
Okay Dave, you can exhale now. It made CBG's list. Mine too.
-Superman 146-169 (24 issues, 1961-1964)
I have read most of these and wholeheartedly agree that they represent the finest Silver Age Superman stories.
-Swamp Thing 20-64 (45 issues, 1984-1987)
Is there another comic that has a 45 issue run even close to comparable to this? I say thee nay!
-Uncle Scrooge Four Color 386, 456, 495 (3 issues, 1952-1953)
Everything I said about Donald Duck above applies here.
-Watchmen 1-12 (12 issues, 1986-1987)
This series is probably too good to be in the elite box.
-X-Men 111-142 (32 issues, 1978-1981)
Not all of this run were gems, but most of them were. So, I’ll agree with the decision to throw the whole period in. Sure the popularity of these stories led to the unfettered growth and consequent demise of the X-Men franchise and the unity of Marvel’s serial adventures, but that was the fault of later decision-makers, not these stories.
-Zot! 30-36 (7 issues, 1990-1991)
The first 29 issues belong here too. Zot! Is sorely missed.

Good, but not top 1,600 material
-Action Comics 507-508, 510-512 (5 issues, 1980)
These were solid Cary Bates stories. But they lacked the intangibles necessary to make the elite box. Sorry Cary.
-Batman 148-159, 164 (13 issues, 1963-1964)
If you hate the just pre-new look Batman, I understand. But for me, these stories (a couple of which are discussed here)had a charm. Not top-notch charm mind you. These don’t belong in the top 1,600, but I like ‘em well enough.
-Bone 1-55 (1991-2004)
This was a tough one to bump out of the top list. I’ve never reread these, but I recall being enthralled with it at first and then becoming disinterested enough to drop it figuring I’d pick the end up in a trade collection down the road. Which I still haven’t done. I’m not saying this isn’t very good, but I have qualms about making it a must have item.
-Concrete 1-10 (10 issues, 1987-1988)
I liked this. But I stop short of calling it a classic.
-Green Arrow 1-10 (10 issues, 2001-2002)
I liked this. But I stop short of calling it a classic. Am I repeating myself?
-Inferior Five 1-5 (1967)
I have nothing bad to say about these, but they don’t meet the arbitrary standard for a top 1,600 book.
-Marvel vs. DC/DC vs. Marvel 1-4 (4 issues, 1996)
This was good fun, but no more than that.
-Normalman 1-12, Annual 1 (13 issues, 1984-1985)
This was very good. But I hesitate to put a parody of super hero comics of a specific era, no matter how good, in the elite box.
-Superboy 89-100 (12 issues, 1961-1962)
Silver Age Superboy had a lot of great silly stories. They’re enjoyable, but not quite good enough to make the elite box.
-Thor 337-340 (4 issues, 1983-1984)
Outside of the Avengers, Thor has never captured my interest. And although Walt Simonson had a strong run starting here, I can’t put a comic with Beta Ray Bill on my must have list.
-Ultimates 1-13 (13 issues, 2003-2004)
As noted here, I surprised myself by liking this. But I certainly didn’t enjoy it enough to make the elite box.

Never read it, but they probably got it right
-Acme Novelty Library 1-15 (15 issues, 1993-2001)
I want to read this series. It had the bad luck of being issued at a time I wasn’t buying many comics and was out of touch with the buzz of what I should be getting.
-Adventures of Peter Wheat 1-35 (35 issues, 1948-1952)
I had never heard of this before, but Walt Kelly did them so I’m willing to hold 35 slots open for this title in the elite box.
-Airboy Comics Vol. 5 11-12 (2 issues, 1948-1949)
This one gets the benefit of the doubt based on the CBG description.
-Animal Comics 1-30 (30 issues, 1942-1947)
Walt Kelly introduces Pogo and John Stanley does some stories. This is probably worthy, but I’ve never read it.
-Boys Ranch 1-6 (6 issues, 1950-1951)
Kirby’s other kid gang stories were almost always a hoot. Never read this one, but I have no reason to think it would be any different.
-Captain Marvel Adventures 22-46 (25 issues, 1943-45)
This is the Monster Society Of Evil epic, which is far and away the comics story I’ve yet to read and must before I die.
-Classics Illustrated 1-27 (27 issues, 1990-1991)
Another one that escaped my radar, the creator list provided by CBG’s recap caught my interest.
-From Hell 1-11 (11 issues, 1991-1998)
Hey. Get off my back. I missed a lot of comics in the 1990s. I was busy moving, getting married and having kids.
-Haunt of Fear 19-28 (10 issues, 1953-1954)
E.C. were the only comics my Dad ever read when he was a kid. He had probably stopped reading comics by 1953, but I’ll agree to make sure E.C. is represented.
-Invisible People 1-3 (3 issues, 1992)
I’m not familiar with it, but it’s Will Eisner people. Don’t argue.
-Leave It To Chance 1-12 (12 issues, 1996-1999)
A victim of being published at a time when most comics were off my radar, this is on my short list of haven't read, but must do so.
-Strangers in Paradise Vol. 1 1-3, Vol. 2 1-14 (17 issues, 1993-1996)
The danger of today’s entry is that it exposes me to the world for my inexcusable failure to have read a number of acclaimed comics. Go easy on me. I want to read this. Some day I will. Promise.
-Sugar & Spike 1-33 (33 issues, 1956-1961)
I’ve read only one issue of this series. I’d love to read them all to my kids. Why won’t DC Archive these babies?
-Supreme 41-52b (12 issues 1996-1997)
An Alan Moore super hero story. Must be good. Published during the H dark era of comics. But speaking of Alan Moore, why isn’t Top Ten on this list?
-Thirteen Going on Eighteen 1-29 (29 issues, 1961-1971)
What’s this? John Stanley did a series with a 13 year-old girl as the lead? Why wasn’t I told about this before? And why hasn’t this been collected in some form?

Never read it and I’m not willing to agree they got it right
-Akiko 1-18 (18 issues, 1996-1997)
I’ve nothing against people who enjoy manga. I’ve nothing against a broad spectrum of comics choices. But don’t ask me to like it. And don’t ask me to put it in my precious 1,600 elite box.
-Alien vs. Predator 1-4 (4 issues, 1990)
I was not the target audience of this comic.
-Ash 0-6 (7 issues, 1994-1996)
Firefighter comics just don’t do the trick for me. Not even Fireman Farrell.
-The Authority 1-12 (12 issues, 1999-2000)
“Realistic” and dark super hero comics with lots of deaths and imperfect leads. It may be good, but Watchmen and Miracleman set the standard here and anything else has to overcome a huge burden of proving itself worthy of being elite.
-Batman 608-619 (12 issues, 2002-2003)
I read the first half of the Hush saga. I thought it was okay. Many people (Scott (go to 6/22 and 6/23) being the first to come to mind) despise the whole story. I’m taking their side until I have a chance to read the end.
-Cosmo The Merry Martian 1-6 (6 issues, 1958)
CBG made a commendable effort to include a fair amount of non-super hero stuff. Good for them. But I’ve never heard of this series and remain a skeptic.
-Dark Horse Presents 51-62 (12 issues, 1991-92)
I could be in trouble for this one. First, I’m admitting that I’ve never read Sin City. Second, I’m admitting that Frank Miller misses more often than he hits for me. It might be worth. I might like it. But again, I’m erring on the side of skepticism.
-Deathlok 1-4 (4 issues, 1990)
A character that fails to interest me. Marvel had a lot of characters this list passed over (what about the brilliant Ka-Zar run of the early 1980’s guys and gals of CBG?)
-Dynamo 1-4 (4 issues, 1966-1967)
Despite the stellar list of artists, the Tower comics line never appealed to me.
-Hate 1-15 (15 issues, 1990-1994)
Never heard of this before. CBG’s description is intriguing, but my rule is when in doubt, be skeptical.
-Lone Wolf and Cub 1-28 (28 issues, 2000-2002)
I know. I know. Everyone and their mother liked this, but try as I might, I can’t generate the enthusiasm to read it.
-Magnus Robot Fighter 1-21 (21 issues, 1963-1968)
No interest in this.
-Ms. Tree 10-50 (41 issues, 1984-1989)
I’m not a fan of hard-boiled detective stories (outside of Who Framed Roger Rabbit anyway). And I protest the inclusion of 41 issues of such a series. We have a space limit to work with here people!
-Our Gang With Tom And Jerry 46-57 (12 issues, 1948-1949)
Another commendable attempt to include a fair amount of non-super hero stuff. But how this relatively obscure 12 issue run makes the list and no Archies do, bugs me.
-Oz-Wonderland Wars 1-3 (3 issues, 1986)
Again I whine. More funny animals, but no Archie?
-Powers 1-6 (6 issues, 2000)
I’ve liked some Brian Michael Bendis stories I’ve read. The majority fall into the “ehhhh, it’s okay” category. Some, like the Avengers fiasco qualify for inclusion in the worst comics ever written box. But he’s never written anything that has wowed me enough to include in the elite box.
-Raggedy Ann & Andy 1-39 (39 issues, 1946-1949)
I know nothing about this comic. It may well have the charm necessary to justify inclusion in the elite box. But I don’t know. And 39 issues? Do I need to complain again that Silver Age Flash only got 11?
-Ranma ½ Part 1 1-7 (7 issues, 1991)
See Akiko at the top of this section
-Solar, Man of the Atom 1-12 (12 issues, 1991-1992)
This is clearly well drawn. But I’ve seen Shooter address the normal man with infinite power theme too many times to agree without reading it that it must be a classic.
-Stray Bullets 1-5 (5 issues, 1995)
Crime noir. I'll pass. What would be the least appealing comic to me? How about Brian Michael Bendis and Gerry Conway collaborating to do a noir crime fiction manga style Avengers epic which inexplicably turns a good guy into a bad guy and then has a letters page insulting the readers? Yep. That should do it.
-Truth: Red, White and Black 1-7 (7 issues, 2003)
I shouldn’t say this about something I’ve never actually read. But from what I’ve heard, I had a hard time not lumping this in with the “There's something funny in that cheese up there in Wisconsin, but I'm not laughing!” losers.
-Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 3 13-22 (10 issues, 1997-1998)
See Akiko at the top of this section

Huh? This wasn’t very good at all
-American Flagg! 1-26 (26 issues, 1983-1985)
This should cause trouble. But I don’t like Howard Chaykin’s writing. Which isn’t to say that I don’t see why he is generally well respected. I'm not saying only lunkheads like him. I'm just saying I don't. I did admire a lot of the ideas he threw out in this series, but I never enjoyed the whole product. Why I don’t like Chaykin is a good idea for a lengthy entry of its own some day.
-Astonishing Tales 25-28, 30-36 (11 issues, 1974-1976)
How does Deathlok rate two entries on the CBG list? Clearly, the cyborg has some blackmail material against the editors.
-Conan 1-21 (21 issues, 1970-1972)
Even when I liked reading Conan books, this series fell flat for me. I tried to pick up a Conan book about 12 years ago. Young H and older H disagreed on its merits.
-Crisis On Infinite Earths 1-12 (12 issues, 1985)
Okay, historically this is an important comic. And I love the George Perez art. There are even plenty of memorable scenes. But in the end, it is a poorly written story and my elite box has no space for such.
-Elfquest 1-21 (21 issues, 1979-1985)
Hey! Don’t look at me like that. Mike Sterling was the first person to go public with his lack of enthusiasm for Elfquest. Blame him. I’m just joining the bandwagon.
-Groo the Wanderer 1-42 (42 issues, 1985-1987)
I really liked Sergio Aragones’ work in Mad. And I really like Mark Evanier’s work (I’ll be indexing his Blackhawk run soon – I’ll need to work on my complimentary adjectives vocabulary in preparation for those entries). But I never liked this. At all. Sorry guys.
-Justice League of America 100-102 and 135-137 (6 issues, 1972 and 1976)
These were the first crossovers with the Seven Soldiers of Victory and Fawcett heroes. They are important in that respect, but like Crisis, the stories weren’t that well-written, although 100-102 is much better than 135-137. And issue 102 stands as a great example as to why when an obscure character is killed, they are usually best left that way. Has there been a Red Tornado story that justifies his resurrection? I’ll answer that for you. No, there hasn’t. Even worse, we were subjected to a couple years of Gerry Conway’s attempts to make Red Tornado a poor man’s Vision. Blah.
-Superman Vol. 2 71-82; Action Comics 680-691; Adventures of Superman 494-505 (36 issues, 1992-1993)
I’ll admit I haven’t read all of these issues, but I’ve read enough. At best these are average and at 36 issues, it takes up too much valuable space in our 1,600 limit.

There's something funny in that cheese up there in Wisconsin, but I'm not laughing!
-Captain America 100-111 (12 issues, 1968-1969)
Ugh. So many good Marvels of the era. But not this second-rate stuff. See here for an in-depth analysis of a couple of these issues.
-Daredevil 1-11 (11 issues, 1964-1965)
No. No. No. NO!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
-Detective 327-328 (2 issues, 1964)
Is anyone really ready for another whine-fest about my distaste for the New Look Batman? Yes, you say? Then go here for one example.
-Incredible Hulk 1-6 (6 issues, 1962-1963)
The early mindless Hulk stories were my least favorite growing up. I still don’t like them. The inclusion of these 6 issues seems more a homage to the concept than to the best 6 Hulk stories ever written.
-Marvel Super Hero Contest Of Champions 1-3 (3 issues, 1982)
CBG slipped this one in as a joke to see if anyone was paying attention. Caught you dudes!
-The Man Of Steel 1-6 (6 issues, 1986)
How did this dreck make CBG’s list? It failed in both purposes. It failed to tell interesting stories in and it failed to revamp Superman in any creatively meaningful fashion.

And there is today's ridiculously ambitious attempt at discussing 1,600 comics. I need a nap.

November 17, 2004

Back In Operation

It's been a busy week behind the scenes here. I've upgraded our version of Movable Type to 3.12, which was exceedingly satisfying: I don't get to actually do anything too technical at work anymore (not that this was all that difficult). Since everything seems to be working, I'm off to reward myself by actually reading a few of comics I picked up last week, but not before presenting the cover of Superboy #124. I haven't had time to read it yet, but one of the stories is The Insect Queen of Smallville (a summary is here). I can't wait.

November 16, 2004

JLA 107 and JLA Classified 1 (2004-2005)

This week I purchased two Justice League of America titles. Which made news in my brain because I haven’t read any JLA stories since I gave up in frustration at the poor writing back during Joe Kelly’s tenure on the JLA title a couple years ago. None of the temporary creative teams since then tempted me a bit even though I really want to buy this title. It stars the top heroes in the DC Universe. I am predisposed to like this book. I want to read a Justice League story every month. It should be DC’s top of the line title. Nonetheless, DC hasn’t been able to give the title the team it deserves to get the money just dying to leap out of my wallet.

But, lo and behold, DC has issued a Grant Morrison mini-series called JLA Classified and assigned Kurt Busiek to the regular title. After a long drought, the chances look good for two decently written JLA titles.

JLA 107 cover advertised the return of the Crime Syndicate of Amerika (technically not a return since I believe the Crime Syndicate stories in the past had a shining “c” in the America). Good. A classic group of villains that have interesting backgrounds but who haven’t been done to death. A good start.

This is billed as Part One of the story, but it is really just a chance for Busiek to warm up with the concept of the JLA as the Crime Syndikate (and its intriguing new look) doesn’t show up until the last panel.

Instead, John Jonzz and the Flash conduct administrative rounds at the JLA HQ, which makes for a more interesting story than it sounds and which includes methodical housekeeping to ensure an old villain, The Construct, a malevolent electronic consciousness, stays down. The Construct, a Steve Englehart creation, is a villain that deserves having the cobwebs dusted off as stories featuring him as a menace are even more relevant to the times than they were in the 1970’s when he debuted.

And my fanboy interest was piqued by a scene showing Atom and Aquaman as current JLA members. I haven’t followed the group’s membership since jumping Joe Kelly’s sinking ship, but I’m glad to see these two guys back on the roster.

Biggest complaint? The art. Ron Garney and Dan Green don’t cut it for me. The panels seem too sketchy and the faces of the characters are unappealing. Look at Aquaman and Wonder Woman over on the right (click the image to enlarge it). This flaw will be even more apparent in a story focusing on more human characters (as opposed to this issue which spent a lot of time in the realm of the Construct).

In many ways, by depicting how the JLA keeps on top of its game through a vast organizational scheme, Busiek is revisiting the tail run of his recent Avengers work in which the Avengers went global with scores of Avengers actively monitoring their assigned problem spots. Busiek’s super teams aren’t free-spirited individualists. They’re peace-keeping organizations with long-term plans and a proactive approach. In fact, in this issue, we see how conformist John Jonzz harnesses the less organized aspect of the Flash to deal with the Construct problem. Is this a good or bad approach to the JLA? Will the Crime Syndikate storyline bring out the strengths and weaknesses of the approach? These are questions I’m counting on Busiek to address in his tenure. Stay tuned.

In contrast to Busiek’s “comfort food” of more familiar super-hero trappings stories, Morrison, as he did when he was a regular writer on JLA, writes a story that disturbs and causes the reader to stop, think and re-read. The first issue of JLA Classified focused more on a super-group called the International Marine Corps and even after rereading the book, I’m not sure whether most of these guys are new Morrison creations or his interpretation of existing characters (the only ones I recognized were Jack O’Lantern and the new Knight and Squire). Another typical Morrison story characteristic is that my mind is spinning trying to grasp what the main villain’s motivation is/powers are. But Morrison’s strength as a storyteller is his ability to keep my attention riveted while he flies through his 100 ideas a panel pace. Where this story is going and what the full meaning of the “Classified” portion of the title is, I sure can’t tell after one issue, but Morrison has given me a properly awe-inspiring Batman, an intriguing revamp of the Squire (one of the lamest characters DC swept under the rug years ago), a kick-butt Gorilla Grodd (who eats his adversaries) and a new seemingly omnipotent villain. I may not understand everything’s he’s done by the end of the story, but Morrison gives the JLA, its adversaries and the scope of his stories an aura of grandeur that makes buying the next issue compulsory.

What’s the difference in approaches boil down to? Easy. I expect Busiek’s JLA run to give me solid, if not necessarily spectacular JLA stories that play within the lines and feature all the characters, with just as much focus on the character development as the plots. In contrast, Morrison is going to give us an epic that is guaranteed to play outside the lines with no guarantee the full JLA will even show up before the story is over, and with a much greater focus on the plot than the character development of the JLA members. The stakes are never small for Morrison. He sees the JLA as the mightiest team of super-heroes and he gives them the mightiest opponents. It is always a thrill ride when he’s at the control – there’s just the teeny tiny risk of the occasional Morrison idea that falls flat.

Identity Crisis 6 (2005)

Kind Of Sort Of Spoiler Alert. I can't bring myself to mention the twist that Brad Meltzer throws out at the end of the penultimate issue of the Identity Crisis series. But it is a biggie. So big that I am convinced that Meltzer is trying to nudge readers into jumping to conclusions. Or see if a comic really can make a Mag's eyes do that Elongated Man pop out of the sockets thing.

But there are some other big circle of life events going on, so I'll talk about them. Remember, I already gave you a spoiler warning. And remember, I think this has been a well-written series with Meltzer showing a grasp at what makes the DC universe and its characters tick. Finally, remember, that if Meltzer fails to deliver a coherent and credible explanation in issue 7, this series will join the scrapheap of event mini-series that failed to deliver and all the interesting things that have happened so far will carry the stigma of failure wherever they next show up:

1) Death: The latest Robin becomes an orphan, as all Robins must be I suppose. I don't know enough about either character to opine whether Tim Drake was more interesting with or without a father;

2) Rebirth: The new Capt. Boomerang officially assumes the mantle. Much as I liked Digger Harkness, his heir seems to be an improvement as far as presenting an interesting 21st century menace;

3) Rebirth: This guy is going to have a big impact in the finale.

Thanks to Meltzer for restoring the sense of menace to one of the original big villains of the DC Silver Age;

4) Conflict That Won't Resolve Easily: Turns out the old JLA pulled a fast one on Batman. Assuming Batman figures it out next issue, I foresee some good character conflict between Batman and Green Arrow, Black Canary, Hawkman, Atom, Zatanna and Hal Jordan in the months ahead;

5) Rebirth: Calculator rises even further from the ashes of Ambush Bug joke fodder to a major player in the DC Universe. Good for Bob Rozakis' creation and for Meltzer for the makeover. Here's hoping subsequent writers can maintain this interesting new aspect;

6) Death: The autopsy of Sue Dibny doesn't bode well for a minor, yet popular, DC hero. As I said, I remain convinced Meltzer's trying to trick us. That said, he delivers one heck of a cliffhanger.

November 11, 2004

The Flash Archives Volume One (1996)

Today the Treadmill gets to talk about the character that captured our imagination more than any other character in our youth – the Barry Allen Flash.

The Flash Archives Vol. 1 collects the last solo appearance in the Golden Age of Jay Garrick from Flash 104 and the first 14 Barry Allen Flash stories from Showcase 4, 8, 14 and Flash 105-108 (two stories in every issue in those days kids). From what I’ve read of other comics of this era, the Flash stories were the cream of the crop. And as the impetus that drove the Silver Age of comics, the importance of the stories in this collection can not be overstated. Barry Allen Flash was the hero of the scientific age, using reason and scientific knowledge to fight crime at a time when Superman and Batman were busy wasting most of their (and our) time in secret identity farces.

Okay, putting aside the historical importance, how do these stories come across now? Pretty darn well I think. These are the types of stories that I think Michael Chabon had in mind in his contro-blog-versial comments a while back about the need for more kid friendly comics. These stories were written for kids, but not in an unnecessarily dumbed-down manner (which isn’t to say they don’t have their occasional moments of mind-numbing idiocy). They are exciting, well-plotted tales where the hero needs to show some ingenuity and determination to triumph.

John Broome and Robert Kanigher alternated writing the stories to start, with Broome taking over entirely when Flash graduated to his own title. Since Broome and Kanigher did one story each in the early Showcase, just for fun I’ll keep a running tally whose story was better each issue.

Carmine Infantino did all the art, with various inkers. I’ve never been a big Infantino fan, but I make an exception for his work on Flash, which somehow always seemed to suit the story in ways his work on other titles (his Batman work causes my eyes to turn from the comic page) doesn’t for me. I’ve thought a lot about it to try and pinpoint why, but to no avail.

Turning now to the stories reprinted, the volume kicks off with a reprint of Flash 104 from 1949, written by Robert Kanigher and drawn by Carmine Infantino, which is fascinating if only for how different in style their next Flash story would be in 1956. I can’t do the difference justice with scans, but the waning days of the Golden Age panels are significantly darker in shades than the bright panels of the dawn of the cheery and optimistic Silver Age. The Golden Age Flash story is “The Rival Flash” featuring a villain recently revived to great effect in the JSA title. The story is sound featuring a good mix of super speed feats and a mystery as to whether someone has learned the Flash’s identity. When is the next Golden Age Flash Archive coming out anyway?

Showcase 4 was the debut of the Barry Allen Flash and the start of the Silver Age – at least it is deemed so by enough fans for me to feel confident enough to call it that way. “Mystery of the Human Thunderbolt” by Broome with inks by Joe Kubert is a classic origin tale that stands proud next to the tales that introduced Superman and Batman except for one tiny detail – the last 5 pages which feature the Flash fighting the “world’s slowest man”, the Turtle. The confrontation does try to use what would become the strong point of the Barry Allen Flash tales – Barry having to outwit the tricks of his rogues, but the Turtle’s bag of tricks is painfully lame and it’s hard to be impressed by anyone outsmarting the Turtle. But let’s talk instead about the fantastic origin sequence – the bolt of lightning in the lab! Barry starting to run to catch a cab and instantly “flashing” right by it! And, best of all, the infamous sequence where a waitress spills a tray of food and Barry, seeing everything in slow motion, is able to catch and restore it all! Iconically cool. That’s not the best of all. The coolest (cool in its lesser used sense that means it has the biggest appeal to geeks who read super hero comics) part of the Flash origin has to be the idea of the costume ring that swells the compressed costume to full-size so Barry can change into it at super-speed before anyone can notice. If that doesn’t capture your imagination, check your pulse. And speaking of cool Flash feats, although he doesn't use the trick in this issue, my all-time favorite Flash stunt is the ability to vibrate through walls. Oh Barry, you've turned me into a gushing fanboy.

The second story, Broome’s “The Man Who Broke The Time Barrier” was reprinted in one of the first comics I read in my youth. I was enthralled. I remember reading it and thinking that parts didn’t quite make sense. For example, Mazdan, the villain from the future needs to steal electric razors and TV tubes to repair his time-ship. What kind of future is that? And then, Flash, the hero of science, approaches what is clearly a rocket ship, and calls it a “strange gold-coated projectile”. Ouch. And since the story involves time travel, it carries the usual baggage such tales have that forces readers to beat down their inner voice of reason trying to make sense of a plot that can never really make sense (having said that, I’m a sucker for time travel stories and series – Rip Hunter, Chronos, Aztec Ace, Kang – they all have V.I.P. status here at the Treadmill). But despite those minor flaws, I remember thinking the whole thing was so imaginatively clever that I didn’t care.

Scorecard: Despite the Turtle, Kanigher triumphs over Broome on the basis of an origin story that perfectly captured the wonder of the character. Kanigher 1, Broome 0.

In the Flash’s second appearance, Showcase 8, Kanigher kicks things off with “The Secret of the Empty Box”. I am so enamored with the Silver Age Flash that I’m going to avoid saying anything bad about the stories in this volume. They’re all winners. Okay. I lie. This is horrendous. The conceit of this story (spoiler alert) is that the villain (a “magician” with no magic powers) is actually three identical-looking brothers, with the “drama” being that Flash doesn’t know this fact and is baffled each time he locks one up only to confront another on a crime spree. Here’s my favorite part of the story. Flash has captured 2 of the brothers. But they’re both laughing because they know the third brother is still free to commit crimes. Note the lack of concern by these two carefree jailbirds that they are in the slammer. Hey Houdinis - what's so funny? You're in jail. You're not getting out. Nope. Those devil-may-care guys don't care. And why should they? In the Silver Age it was worth being captured if you could give the hero a look like he'd just been goosed. And Barry gets that look two panels later. Here it is. Why Barry was surprised there was a third after he learned there was a second, I'll never know. Oh Bob Kanigher! Why must you treat our hero of science like a yokel?

In the second story that issue, Broome makes us forget about the forgettable trio, by giving us the first genuine Rogue in “The Coldest Man On Earth”. Is there better comics pleasure than reading a Flash vs. Capt. Cold match-up? Let me help you out with the answer. Of course there isn’t.
That blue and white costume with the parka and the really cool goggles/glasses. What the panel at right really needs is a Shaft-like theme song to go with it. Capt. Cold is a thinking man’s bad-ass and the temporary failure by DC writers a decade back to realize this can only be explained by recognizing that they must have confused Capt. Cold with Minister Blizzard. This one gives us Capt. Cold’s origin, which we won’t discuss here, because it doesn’t help make our man Len Snart look good. And in the gimmick du jour, Capt. Cold uses the mirages the intense cold his gun creates to baffle the Flash for a few pages. And that’s what the Capt. Cold-Flash battles were always about. Capt. Cold had a new gimmick and Flash had to figure out what it was and how to stop it. These were a thinking man’s adversaries. The 1990’s gave us Superman and Doomsday punching each other in every panel for 10 issues. The Silver Age gave us 12 page stories wherein two costumed characters matched wits, with the good guy often not needing to throw a single punch to triumph. Score: Silver Age 1, 1990’s Comics: 0.

Scorecard: This one’s a blowout. Broome trounces Kanigher and the score is tied at one apiece.

Flash’s third appearance, Showcase 13, kicks off with Kanigher’s “Around The World In 80 Minutes”, a farce-like story showcasing Flash’s speed, wherein he circles the globe, defeating menaces and getting smooched by pretty foreign girls in each locale in his heroic effort to make a date with Iris in time. No matter how fondly I try to recall Silver Age Flash stories, there is no denying it. Kanigher delivered another clunker here, saved only by the imagination-catching hook of Flash’s global heroics in the span of 80 minutes.

Broome’s story, “Master Of The Elements”, introduces another Rogue, Mr. Element. Broome got what was going on a lot better than Kanigher did. Broome gives the hero of science a villain of science. Kanigher gave him pirates and horny girls. One fault they shared was casting Iris West in the role of the harpy, as she did little in these early stories beside put on a dazzling display of contempt for Barry, who meekly accepted it as the cuckolded boyfriend. Returning to Mr. Element, this tale has him with criminal lackeys, something I don’t recall him employing since. And this panel shows why.
Gosh Mr. E – even underlings have feelings. In any event, the battles between Mr. Element and Flash are fascinating duels of wits and science, with Flash’s knowledge of celestial bodies saving the day. Is it stretching the matter to claim that everything I ever needed to know I learned from Barry Allen?

Scorecard: Another Broome blowout, giving him a 2-1 lead over Kanigher.

Flash’s fourth appearance came in the next issue of Showcase, number 14, with Kanigher’s “Giants of the Time World” leading off. At this point, the rose colored glasses have failed. This is another clunker by Kanigher (and one of the few in this Archive that I had never read before). First, Kanigher kicks off the story recycling the same Barry catches the spilt food in mid-air trick he employed in the origin. Next, for the third straight story, Kanigher has Iris compare Barry to a turtle – this time twice. Get a new insult lady. Finally, Kanigher once again fails to grasp what sort of adversary the Flash should be fighting. Kanigher pits Flash against some other dimensional malevolent beings who grow and shrink rapidly but who fall before the mighty Flash who uses his scientific wits to give them a …well let’s hear Flash say it:

Broome redeems the issue with “The Man Who Changed The Earth” in which Mr. Element returns, but as Dr. Alchemy using the magic of the Philosopher’s Stone (beating Lord Voldemort to the punch by a few decades). He’s still using the principles of science to fight the Flash. The stone just provides Broome the chance to whip the scientific menaces magically out of thin air to keep the story moving. Scientific magic. Broome was a genius.

Flash graduated to his own series in 1959 with Flash 105, featuring a classic Mirror Master cover. But before Flash could face the Mirror Master, it was time to depose the “Conqueror From 8 Billion B.C.” as Broome proved he too could totally foul up the Silver Age Flash concept too. It was a rough start as the first two pages plodded through the arrival of Katmos the Conqueror and then the third had Iris West nagging Barry for not being man enough to go out and catch a crook. You see Barry was using his crime lab skills to try and nab the guy, but Iris the harpy decided Barry deserved emasculation for that. It wasn't easy to be female in the pages of a DC comic in those days. After 2 pages of origin recap, Barry then tells us that it is important that he keep his secret ID as the “aura of mystery” helps the Flash “impress” criminals. Was this some kind of leftover Batman fights aliens story Broome had in his desk drawer? Fortunately that aura of mystery crap “mysteriously” quickly vanished from the Flash mythos. Unfortunately, by the time Flash finally got around to fighting this unearthed would-be ruler, the story was too much of a train wreck to be salvaged.

All was forgiven by the next tale though, as Sam Scudder, the Mirror Master made the scene for the first time in “The Master of Mirrors” even if Broome did have Mirror Master recycle Capt. Cold’s illusion shtick. Why the leniency? Because the illusions this time set Flash up against a giant mosquito (and gave us the immortal line “This is getting ridiculous—the Flash running away from a mosquito”) and a minotaur as he negotiated his way through a hall of mirrors. If you didn't like this story, you don't like fun.

Flash 106 was the first issue to feature 2 rogue stories. First off was the debut of one of the greatest bad guys ever, Gorilla Grodd in the “Menace of the Super-Gorilla”. Sure, in the Silver Age gorillas were a dime a dozen, but Grodd had something none of the others did - staying power. Hell, I think the hairy galoot could support his own title. The whole gorilla city concept and Grodd as the bad apple of the gorillas is just genius. And Grodd’s combination of physical and mental strength makes him a perfect adversary for any hero. This story has a couple other interesting scenes. First, actor Fred Pearson tells Barry that Barry is his best friend. Either Barry is a crappy friend or Fred was a lonely and desperate man, because I don’t recall ever seeing him pop up again. Also, we are reminded that Barry may be sharp, but he’s just a police scientist not a rocket scientist as we see in Barry’s response to the panicking citizen in this panel.

You can guess which rogue was introduced in the second story “The Pied Piper of Peril”. I’ve gotten on the soapbox about this before, but I feel obliged to do it again. Sound-based powers don’t work in comics. Don’t take my word for it. Ask the Dazzler. Ask Banshee. Ask Klaw. Ask Black Canary’s transient sonic cry. I could go on. Don’t ask Black Bolt though. First of all, if he answers, you’ll be sorry. Second, his power is not so much sound based as based on the premise it can never be used. Different concept. So in my youth, I always consider Piper the weakest of the Rogues and I’m pleased that modern writers made him both homosexual and a reformed criminal. Heck, as far as I know he is the only homosexual reformed criminal character in comics. The point being, that despite the handicap of a power that can’t be depicted well in comics, modern Flash writers have made the Pied Piper an interesting character. In fact, pretty much the entire cast of rogues created by Broome 40 years ago remain vibrant characters in the ongoing Flash title. Of course, they’ve all been updated for the times, but that takes nothing away from the creative genius of Broome. This raises an interesting question to be studied some day – which series generated the most ongoing, still-used villains at its’ inception? The only title I can think of that might give Flash a run (so to speak) for his money is Spider-Man. Ah well. When I finish my indexing in a year or eight, maybe I’ll revisit this question.

Flash 107 kicks off with “Return of the Super-Gorilla”, the first rogue to reappear. Fortunately for justice, King Solovar was right on top of things and was able to have the Gorilla City operator give him Flash’s “Vibration-Aura Number” from Gorilla City files. In case you’re wondering, it’s Gamma Frequency 54-8321. So, Flash was ready for the rascally Grodd. Grodd’s scheme this time is to recruit a race of winged beings from the center of the earth as his army. You see it turns out that the earth is “hollow except for the crust.” Ummm…about that hero of science stuff – let’s just forget about it for the rest of this story, okay? In fact, let’s forget about the rest of this story and move on to the better tale –

“The Amazing Race Against Time” presents Flash with the dilemma of a benevolent amnesiac who is faster than Flash. At the harpy’s request, the Picture News headline is “Public Opinion Mounting For A Race Between Flash—Mysterious Stranger”. Not only does Flash not dump Iris on her uptight 1960’s DC career girl ass for being such a pain. He submits to the race because to do otherwise might cause the Flash’s crusade against crime to suffer. Those 1960’s DC heroes sure were full of themselves at times weren’t they? The mysterious stranger beats Flash at which point Flash decides the only solution is to strap the benevolent being into a chair and char the hell out of him with electro-shock therapy. Really. I kid you not one bit. Taught that son of a bitch a thing or two about beating the Flash. And it’s all in the name of preserving the Flash’s crusade against crime. Really. Once Flash drives enough voltage through the guy to lobotomize him, the guy suddenly remembers he's a “Hominoid”. Flash then has the guy off Earth faster than you can say “Monopoly”. You think he might have wanted to check whether the story was true or whether the guy had gone delusional from the kilowatts between the ears. What also gets me here is that the last time the public ever sees the guy he is a human who beats the Flash in a race. Then he disappears and the public is supposed to take Flash (the race loser’s) word for it about some can’t be proven he was just a robot from another planet story. Where were all the conspiracy theorists in 1959?

The final issue reprinted is Flash 108, which features this fantastic cover. Flash was a title that had a very large share of covers that compelled you to buy them. These days of course, you’re lucky to find more than a handful such covers in a year’s worth of comics. Anyhow, the story behind the cover, “The Speed of Doom” features Flash in a brain-teasing dilemma at the hands of an alien who managed to get his hands on a “respected human scientist” rubber face mask and lure the Flash into a deathtrap on a treadmill. This is significant because it is the first appearance of a treadmill in a Flash story. Somehow Overstreet fails to mention this. Nor does the market seem to think this comic has extra value for the treadmill appearance. But we here at the Comic Treadmill do. And rest assured readers, if we could duplicate the radiation that kept the Flash from leaving the Treadmill, we’d expose you to it also.

The Archive concludes with “The Super-Gorilla’s Secret Identity”, the third appearance of the great Gorilla Grodd. Curiously, Broome pulls the same rival for the Flash’s public adoration plot conceit out again, as the mysterious – oh hell – there’s nothing mysterious about – anyone reading the story knows it’s Grodd, Drew Drowden, pops out of nowhere to become a great public figure with his mental prowess. Broome discards this idea almost as quickly as he dragged it up and the way is cleared for Flash and Grodd to battle for an epic 3 pages before Flash defeats the overconfident “evil anthropoid” again.

Any bad taste Avengers 503 gave me for comics has been completely cured after spending a couple of days with this treasure.

November 10, 2004

Browsers and Laptops: The Treadmill Seeks the Wisdom of the Blogosphere

In honor of the new release of Firefox, I will opine on browsers: I currently switch between IE 6.0 and Firefox, but also have Netscape, Mozilla, and Opera installed on my machine. I like Firefox the best--tabbed browsing is great--but there are a few pages that don't display properly: notably the Treadmill's blogging entry page and some java based games. Has anyone tried Movable Type 3.x with Firefox yet? I do have the IE viewer extension, but Mag of Earth-whine doesn't like the aesthetics of jumping between invocations of different browsers. And speaking of extensions, the Firefox community has written a boatload of extensions for it, as well as numerous presentation themes, so that you can truly personalize your web-browsing experience.

Opera seems good (and fast), but the ads are annoying and I'm too cheap to buy a browser. I do like the "Welcome to Opera" dialogue box that lets you retrieve a saved browsing session, start at your default home page, or continue your last session. That's a nice touch. Opera is also an extensible browser, like Firefox.

I just don't like the look and feel of Netscape or Mozilla 1.7, which are just about the same thing these days. There's no reason for it--Netscape was the second browser I used, after Mosaic--although I always get the impression my trusty 500 MHz machine is choking when those programs run.

What do the Treadmillers say about browsing?

I'm thinking about buying Mrs. Mag a laptop that I can commandeer and use to blog while sitting with the rest of the family. All I need the computer to do is run MS Office, a browser session or two, and a wireless network adapter. Has anyone had a particularly good or bad experience in purchasing a used machine? Did you use an on-line source (e-bay, etc.) or stick to something local?

November 09, 2004

The End of an Era

I sadly present the final bit from Songs and Stories About the Justice League of America. Although teary-eyed, I console myself with the knowledge that many of you will hear an encomium to one of the Treadmill's favorite heroes: the Monarch of Motion, the Sultan of Speed, and the Wizard of Whiz--yes, the Flash; indeed, you will be gladdened by this ode to glory.

I believe there is a story to go with this song, but I don't have it, nor have I come across it in my searches. If anyone knows where I can get a copy, please let me know.

November 08, 2004

Dorothy of Oz Chapter 2: Lost (2004)

Starring Catie Fisher. Written by Mark Masterson. Directed and Produced by Greg Mannino. Illusive Productions. Image stolen right from the Dorothy of Oz homepage.

The story works on its own for me. As I said before, I'm not familiar with the original book(s), so I have to judge this story on its own merits. And have merit, it does. Let's start with the flying killer monkey: mmm, killer monkey. I'll be adding one to the Treadmill arsenal as soon as possible. I'd post an image, but then there'd be one less reason for you to go out and buy the book. And a robot Toto shows up, too. Flying monkeys and robot dogs don't make a plot, but they're a good start as far as I'm concerned. There's more, of course: Masterson and Mannino spend a good deal of time visually introducing the Land of Oz to us, while also setting up the main conflict. And we get some more insight into Dot's circumstances and personality.

The striking thing about the book is the art, especially the color. The outdoor color jumps off the page: I don't think I've ever seen anything so green as this. But I'm still not sure that the Dorothy in the grass panels feel integrated enough to be truly believable to me: they're interesting, but the images' edges and perspective seem a touch off. On the other hand, the scene between the Gray Man and the Queen left me with a proper sense of dread; I thought it was the visual peak of the book.

As far as I know, Dorothy of Oz is unlike anything else on the market now, which is almost reason enough to buy it. Since it has a solid story and looks great, I recommend it. Illusive Productions is currently offering both books for eight bucks. It's bargain and an opportunity to support a unique project.

JSA Strange Adventures 1-3 (2004)

JSA Strange Adventures is a 6-issue mini-series that features an adventure of the JSA set in the Golden Age. This is not the first time DC has tried a project like this. And they should try it, because it is a great idea. But like several mediocre attempts before it, the series, at least through the first three issues, lacks the pizzazz the JSA (and readers) deserve.

For a series titled “Strange Adventures”, this tale so far is simply too ordinary of a super hero tale with no interesting twists or character development.

Where does it go wrong? Three ways. First, and foremost, the storytelling pace is so relaxed with unnecessarily padded scenes that the story never gets rolling. There’s obviously going to be some sort of payoff involving Johnny Thunder as a lot of time is spent on his relationship with a pulp writer and Johnny’s attempts to become a successful pulp writer. But I found the Johnny Thunder sequences to be dull.

Second, none of the members of the JSA have distinguishable personalities. I realize this may be a deliberate tribute to the old days of comics, but, if so, it is a tribute that does nothing to enhance the story. Finally, the bad guy of the piece, Lord Dynamo, is underwhelmingly uninteresting and the forced drama of the public taking his side far too readily against the JSA didn’t work for me.

The JSA line-up here is also a bit puzzling. It includes all of the classic JSAers (post-Crisis that is) minus Black Canary plus Wildcat and Mr. Terrific and also with Star Spangled Kid, who I’ve never seen retconned to have been a member in the old days.

The covers are a different story. They’ve been great. So good, I’ve scanned all three to accompany this entry. Issue 1 gives us Starman and Green Lantern fighting a Cthuluian monster. Issue 2 gives us Johnny Thunder and the T-Bolt versus an army of flying Nazi zombies. Issue 3 gives us Wildcat and Atom brawling with hideous creatures in a castle.

With 3 issues left writer Kevin Anderson and artists Barry Kitson and Gary Erskine may have some surprises and twists up their sleeves, but they’ve shown no evidence of it yet.

November 07, 2004

Comics Buyer's Guide (2004)

Comics Buyer’s Guide, a magazine about comics I’ve been reading for about 20 years, but which nobody who blogs seems to read, recently went from weekly to monthly publication, changing from a tabloid format to a chunky bound magazine that is so big, it’s width exceeds my vertical leap (at least my leap as judged by my volleyball “pals”).

My goal in writing today’s entry was to reach a conclusion whether CBG is a magazine you and I should be reading. You can read through the section by section reports below, but let’s cut to the chase - here’s the verdict. I don’t know.

Five months into the format, it is essentially the same magazine. If you didn’t like it before, there’s nothing new to recommend it. If you liked it before, you’ll still like it. If, like me, you were on the fence about continuing your subscription, my wishy-washy analysis isn’t going to help you. Or me. Fortunately I still have four months to decide.

Here’s how the new format shakes out (there are other features/columns, but these are the main ones):

1) All but one issue has kicked off with a lengthy media section focusing on comics-related movies. The articles are fluffy and seemed aimed at people generally unfamiliar with comics. Admirable goal to try and ease readers interested in the movie on the cover but unfamiliar with comics? Yep. Worth reading for those familiar with comics? Nope;

2) There is also now an anime and manga section. Lots of people like this stuff. It deserves to have its’ own section. As someone who remains wholly indifferent to the genre, it counts as another section to skip;

3) Next up is one of the new additions, an analytical article by CBG editor (and one-time Iron Man writer) John Jackson Miller. Without question, this column has been the highlight of the revised format. The initial topic was the least interesting because it has been done to death – will the “pamphlet” format of comics survive? But subsequent topics and the resulting analysis were worthwhile reading – a fascinating analysis on the decline of the number of words in each issue of a comic; a spirited argument why letters pages are healthy for comics; four big questions about comics that nobody knows the answer to (who reads them, do movies help sell them, how many have been published and how have they survived for 70 years). This is good stuff;

4) The reviews section follows. Tony Isabella gets a few pages to himself before the other reviewers. Isabella has always done a good job with reviews and, fortunately, CBG gives him enough space to communicate his thoughts. In contrast, the other reviewers in the second half of this section are a faceless bunch with no distinct voices, minimal space allotted for their reviews and with the scope of the review limited to 1 or 2 consecutive issues of the title. The space limitations imposed on the reviewers prevents any meaningful analysis. There’s nothing in the latter section that isn’t done better by more distinctive voices with more freedom of space in the blogosphere;

5) After the reviews, some of the regular columnists’ pieces appear. First up is Ask Mr. Silver Age. This is one I’ve enjoyed since its’ inception. Craig Shutt has a humorous style and an impressive knowledge of the Silver Age. Again, the territory being covered has been batted about all over the blogosphere, but Shutt’s work is top quality and he brings a fresh approach to old subject matter each column. The switch to the monthly format does cut into the amount of material Shutt publishes each month, but not to a great degree;

6) Next up is Capt. Comics, written by Andrew Smith, whose writing I have also enjoyed for some time. One of my favorite features he runs is a Cancelled Comics Cavalcade wherein he tries to analyze why a cancelled series failed. I really like Shutt and Smith. They’re comics’ fans who know how to write and write with a genuine appreciation for comics (almost always super hero fare). But I’m not going to claim they provide anything you can’t find elsewhere on the blogosphere.;

7) The next sections are the Market Reports for Card Games, Action Figures, Toys and Heroclix. Page after page of data on the resale prices for individual game components and toys. It could put a guy into a coma. Obviously this stuff has value to someone. Me? I grumble as I quickly flip past the sections;

8) Following that is the Comics Market report, easily the largest section in the magazine due to the price guide listings, another section aimed for a different audience then me. My philosophy is that my collection will be something for my kids to sell after I kick the bucket. I hope it covers the cost of liquor at the wake. Which is a possibility, but only if my friends’ ability to guzzle free booze declines with age. That said, there is a new feature within this section that is worth reading. Each month a series of “Retroviews” recap a series issue by issue. The Retroviews are too brief, but they discuss the actual contents of the comic, not the value. The first few months were a trip through the earliest Amazing Spider-Man comics. I enjoyed them; and

9) The final big section is the readers’ letters, which is generally enjoyable, although there is one correspondent who writes in each issue to remind CBG readers that he’s a big time seller of comics on E-Bay now. That I could do without. On the more interesting side of things, one issue contained letters memorializing Kate Worley, of Omaha The Cat Dancer fame by her family and creative partner. Stuff like that shows up a good deal.

So there it is. Will I renew? Probably. I’m old-fashioned enough to enjoy having something in print about comics to kick back in the comfy chair and read from time to time as a break from the computer screen. But the loss of one columnist I enjoy could swing the decision the other way.

November 06, 2004

Invasion of the Plastic Men

The song was bad, but the story is worse. At least the Plastic Man Song gets right into your face and shouts "I'm insane!" This little drama just whispers "I'm inane."

The story does have a few goodies, but I'll reveal only one: Plastic man says, "[The villain wants] to discredit me.... He knows I've been the number one criminal catcher in the whole country since I reformed." Just who's second on that list? This is the DCU, right? The home of Batman, Superman, and Aquaman? Heck, even Metamorpho took care of Fumo the Fire Giant. Fumo was way tougher than the criminals in this tale.

You'll have to suffer through the whole story to find the rest of the good stuff. I did--more than once, actually--so it's only fair.

November 05, 2004

Avengers 503 (2004)

Marvel Comics used to love its readers. Stan Lee, and to a lesser extent, his first few waves of successors, tried to make the reader feel they were part of the big happy Marvel family. That sense of belonging vibe went a long way toward making Marvel the marketing empire it is today.

But the people in charge of Marvel today can’t be bothered to hide their contempt for readers. Avengers 503, the concluding part in the so-called “Disassembled” story, was the final straw for me. This book is a hate-letter from start to finish by writer Brian Bendis and his superiors. I get it. Marvel hates me, the reader. I won’t let the door hit me in the ass on my way out.

The first few parts of this story involved a lot of killing of Marvel characters. The concluding episode confirms that these deaths had no narrative purpose. It was just done for Brian Bendis to show how cool he is – he can kill decades old stars just to get attention.

In Avengers 503, Bendis reveals that Scarlet Witch was the bad guy behind everything. Wanda, we are told to swallow, lost her grip on reality. Which might have been a decent storyline with some foreshadowing or a more coherently written struggle. But Bendis is all about the flash. Instead of a coherent plot, we get the Hal Jordanization of Scarlet Witch. A sudden, inexplicable and complete change from long-time noble hero to mass murdering lunatic. Hey, it worked so well for DC, why shouldn’t Marvel jump on the bandwagon?

Worse yet, Bendis couldn’t even be bothered to make this final issue an Avengers story. Dr. Strange, who is not an Avenger, shows up to tell the Avengers that Wanda is the bad guy. They were too d-u-m-b to figure anything out themselves. Then Dr. Strange defeats Wanda alone while the Avengers sit around and watch. Let me repeat that because it bears noting. In the final issue of the Avengers, the Avengers do nothing. They watch. The Avengers are the Watchers, the Voyeurs, the Inferior Five Hundred. Take your pick.

Remember that this story called for the gathering of all Avengers ever? Want to know why? So do I. The answer isn’t in these pages.

Not bad enough? How about Spider-Man showing up simply to make some bigoted commentary. That Bendis sure has a handle on the characters he’s inherited doesn’t he? If it’s one thing Spidey has always been, it’s a bigot. Spider-Man. Marvel’s poster child for intolerance. Anyone want to take a contrary position to my conclusion the current administration of Marvel has nothing but contempt for its readers who are meaningless gnats in a toy and movie empire?

So the story ends with the Avengers destroyed (we know this not because they're all dead or something is preventing the survivors from regrouping - we know it because Carol Danvers tells us it is so – that’s right, they’re not Avengers, they’re the Mighty Quitters) and a mindless Scarlet Witch who has committed about 4 murders or so, all of which will need to be explained away when (not if) Marvel decides to use her as a hero again.

But wait. There’s one last great big kick in the ass Marvel has for its readers. Marvel actually published a letters page. Why you ask? To mock and belittle the letter writers of course. That’s the new Marvel ‘tude – doesn’t it just scream hip? The letters page crows “if you hated ‘Disassembled,’ you’ll probably like NEW AVENGERS #1”, calls the killing of Hawkeye evidence that Marvel is “hardcore”, prints a few fanboy letters simply to post mocking responses and, most egregiously, publishes a heartfelt letter from a cancer survivor thanking Marvel for not killing Scarlet Witch in issue 502. WTF? Given what Marvel did to Scarlet Witch in this issue, the only reasonable conclusion is that Marvel printed the letter to ridicule the writer. It is the lowest blow Marvel has taken at a reader yet.

I’ve had all I can take. Maybe there’s a market for readers who enjoy it when writers and publishers shit on them with incoherent stories and an attitude of scorn, but I’m not it. Good-bye formerly Mighty Marvel. I’ll be back when you clean house.

Birds Of Prey 56-60 and Secret Files (2003)

In the penultimate (a word I first learned from comics – and no smarty pants, I don’t mean recently) entry on Birds of Prey, I finally became a regular reader of the series. The stories, with the exception of the giant-sized Secret Files special, were written by Gail Simone and drawn by Ed Benes and Alex Lei, all of whom do a commendable job. There’s nothing earth-shattering about their work, but they produce a consistently entertaining super-hero serial. As the icing on the cake, the headliners are women without Simone, Benes and Lei having to drive the point home. It is a good comic that stars female protagonists.

In fact, this series is a bit of a throwback as it involves solid super-hero stories without headline seeking storylines and without ridiculously overused characters. Good for it.

Birds of Prey Secret Files 2003 was Simone’s debut on the title and she scored on a story involving the Penguin and a woman who told a tabloid she was carrying Penguin’s baby. It’s a tale for modern times with the expectant mother's motivation being fame. The baby isn’t Penguin’s, but he’s furious at being mocked, which results in a good tale as the wrath of man who hates to be seen as the unwanted monster he is confronts a naïve, if not wholly innocent, glory seeker. The story contains a number of good lines, such as when the fortune seeker asks Black Canary “Don’t you ever pick the wrong man, lady?” Simone is the first writer in this series whose take on Black Canary appeals to me. Simone incorporates all of the elements of the character’s complicated back-story – costumed crime fighter, espionage agent and daughter of super-heroine - and gives the reader a Black Canary who is capable, yet vulnerable. Among the main sins of Black Canary writers in the past have been to make her too vulnerable or too capable, generally the former. Simone does a nice job avoiding that mistake in both this story and the arc that carries this title through the rest of 2003.

The second tale in Secret Files was the weak link. I may be willing to accept characters engaging in dialog during slugfests as a comics convention, but I have my limits when the talking during a fight becomes so overwhelming as to negate any dramatic impact of the story as it did in this piece wherein Black Canary and Huntress involuntarily team-up against some generic thugs whose utter lack of menace is emphasized by the need for the two leads to try and at least talk about something interesting during the battle.

The Secret Files issue also contains a number of character info pages in the old Encyclopedia/Who’s Who format. I am a sucker for these things and find them extraordinarily useful in highlighting parts of a character’s back-story I may have missed or in getting a hint of what aspect of a character a new writer is going to focus on in upcoming storylines. I don’t think the importance to readers of pages like this can be overstated. For example, the page on the Cassandra Cain Batgirl constituted the first time I learned anything about the latest Batgirl.

The final story in the Secret Files Special wasn’t a story per se, just an “only in the comics” chance for DC to show off its roster of female heroes under the pretext that in this flashback we see the reasons why Oracle chose Black Canary over the other female capes of the day. The kind of fluff only a super hero diehard might enjoy. Yes. I enjoyed it.

In the regular title, issues 56-59 were a four-part tale that introduced the menace of Savant, a great villain, who combines the two skills of the main members of the Birds of Prey, Black Canary’s fighting with Oracle’s information brokering abilities. Nothing is harder than creating an interesting new villain, so huzzah for Simone for doing so here.

The main crux of the story is that Black Canary’s sense of guilt gets her tricked into being captured by Savant who then tries to ransom her to Oracle in exchange for Batman’s identity. Savant’s motivation is that he had tried once to be a super-hero but had been dissed by Batman for Savant’s lack of concern for innocents. But there’s a lot more going on than that.

The right to privacy is a theme running throughout this story. Does Oracle have the right to invade privacy to enable her to send Black Canary after the bad guys (one of those white collar bad guys is a key character in this story)? Does Batman’s right to privacy outweigh the threat to hostage Black Canary? And the key issue at the end – does Oracle have a right to the files Savant, a career blackmailer, had on his victims? All good food for thought running throughout this suspenseful tale as Oracle, Black Canary and Huntress try to thwart Savant.

Another theme in this tale, related to the invasion of privacy issues, is the reason that Savant was inevitably driven to be a bad guy. Sayeth Batman to the Savant: “You’re not morally equipped for this job. Your presence will not be tolerated.” Does a costumed hero need to be morally clear to be a vigilante? Simone’s not giving any easy answers as both Black Canary and Oracle take opposite sides on the question of what the moral thing to do with Savant’s illegally gathered information is.

And related to the moral compass of a vigilante issue, Simone finally has Huntress come aboard as a regular cast member when Oracle must call her in to help rescue Black Canary. Despite Oracle’s reservations about Huntress’ moral fitness for the job. Nice touch.

Simone also nailed a number of little touches that enhanced the story. In what can only be a homage to the silly character/power flaws of DC’s Silver Age, Savant has a weakness – sometimes he gets confused by passage of time issues. An amusing touch as long as it is underplayed as it is here.

Birds of Prey 60 is both a wrap-up of the storyline from issues 56-59 and a kick-off of the next arc. In an identity shell game, the Birds of Prey have their first encounter with another new villain, Senator Pullman. Now a Senator as a villain is nothing new, so the jury reserves judgment on how effective a menace Pullman will be, but again, I was happy with Simone’s story. The set-up is a good read with three plotlines moving forward, the initial Senator Pullman confrontation, the knowledge that Savant will not be a forgotten character in this serial and the conflict between Black Canary and Oracle. Simone’s nice touches continue with Pullman’s assumption Oracle is a he and Black Canary’s attempt to persuade Oracle not to hold a grudge against Huntress just because Huntress slept with Dick Grayson (I haven’t followed the latter character in a while, but from what I can tell, he gets around – sounds to me like someone is overcompensating for those early boyhood rumors about just how close his relationship with Batman was – right Alfred?)
(image stolen with some degree of shame (but not enough to stop me from doing it) from the always entertaining Progressive Ruin because I had no desire to dig my own copy of the comic (Batman 200) up and scan it). Back on subject, Black Canary delivers the following speech which made me crack a smile – “If I stayed mad at every girl Ollie ever slept with, I’d have to sequester myself from female contact of any kind, including aliens and robots.”

November 03, 2004

Loki 3-4 (2004)

Loose ends time. The Treadmill selected the first two issues of Loki as a Pick of the Month in August. I thought it was a solid pick and the second half of the story didn't disappoint me.

Rodi deals with some "big" themes, particularly the relationship between destiny and free will. Balder tells Loki "there are many Lokis... just as there are many Thors.... But I have never seen [Loki] rule." And yet, there's Loki, the ruler of Asgard. Is it possible that he might escape his fate? Karnilla casts a spell that allows Loki to see the other versions of Thor and himself, and she confirms the truth of what Balder said: Loki is not destined to rule. Ribic's visuals here of the Norn Queen's magic and the alternate Lokis and Thors are spectacular: I almost forgot the $3.50 price tag.

With that as a backdrop, Rodi plays with several ideas to develop Loki as a tragic and ultimately sympathetic figure. The story's big revelation is that Odin "raised" Loki to be Thor's opposite, to magnify those qualities of Thor deemed good by their father. This naturally ticks off everyone's favorite trickster (or god of evil; take your pick--another theme Rodi weaves into the story is "who is Loki?"). Then Loki's mother--a frost giant (the rednecks of Asgard)--shows up. Loki is embarrassed and realizes that he is neither giant nor Asgardian and that he's alone.

If Rodi left it at that, Loki wouldn't be all that sympathetic--Loki's too much the victim to waste any emotional energy on (c'mon, it's a classic combination of a bad dad and teen angst over one's place in the world). But Loki thinks he sees a way to change his fate. Unfortunately, in the final scene, Thor doesn't see things Loki's way and the story ends in the same way all the others do. Loki's attempt to change his fate humanizes him a bit.

I do have one complaint: Thor's wearing clown socks. The bands around his legs usually look like part of his sandals, but here they look like socks. It bothers me.

November 01, 2004

Not The World's Finest Song

This is the splash page from World's Finest #190. I'd bet these lyrics are the worst ever written for a comic book, but I'm sure there's a Beatles parody somewhere that's rivals this ditty's quality. Why anyone would turn the page after reading this is a mystery to me. The rest of the story is as bad as the song. Trust me.